Chapter 90: Hirate Masahide Commits Seppuku
“There’s no saving him, give him a quick end!”
Yuan Ye, looking exhausted and numb, pushed aside the wound on an ashigaru’s abdomen and glanced at it. Seeing that the injury had reached his lungs, and observing the ashigaru’s contorted face, his extremely difficult breathing, and the foam-filled blood in his mouth, with even pink blood bubbles appearing, he directly pronounced a death sentence.
Two similarly exhausted-looking rookie ashigaru silently carried the injured ashigaru out, while another ashigaru, covered in blood, was carried in.
More than ten days ago, Oda Nobunaga had initiated a full mobilization. This time, many local lords found no reason to refuse and were forced to follow. Oda Nobunaga gathered over four thousand men and rushed to the Shirakawa Entrance line, intending to launch a preemptive strike against the Imagawa family, but was preempted by the Imagawa family instead, suffering extremely heavy casualties.
Consequently, the number of wounded here surged, mostly severe cases. In just one morning, nearly a hundred people were sent away, his hands dripping with blood, earning him the title “Bloody Butcher Divine Doctor.”
His “main tent” was also filled with the smell of blood. Due to the extremely hot weather, the smell of blood was slowly turning into a stench. Various flies and mosquitoes swarmed around, and there were still some severed limbs and scraps of flesh. A sudden glance inside would make one think they had entered a human flesh inn, enough to film a horror movie.
He, however, had grown accustomed to it and couldn’t smell anything. A Man, rushing in, almost stumbled from the stench. After looking around and gagging a few times, she covered her nose and asked, “Is it this bad here?!”
Yuan Ye ignored her obvious question. In this era, severely wounded individuals had a low chance of survival, and with this terrible weather, it wouldn’t be strange for wounds to fester with maggots by tomorrow. He estimated most of them wouldn’t survive.
He continued his work with his hands and asked her, “What’s the specific situation? Have you found out anything?”
“It’s terrible. We don’t know the exact number of wounded, but at least a thousand have died. Oda Nobunaga has been severely weakened again!” A Man stopped beating around the bush and sighed directly. “I heard that when the flanking force crossed the Shirakawa River at night, they were ambushed by the Imagawa family. The Commander-in-Chief died on the spot, and the Samurai Generals were wiped out. Only a few dozen out of over five hundred escaped.”
The battle at Shigehara Castle was also unfavorable. Oda Nobunaga personally led the main force to engage the Imagawa family. They were already outnumbered and didn’t receive the flanking attack from the flanking force as agreed. In the end, they had to abandon four to five hundred men to barely retreat.
“We lost?”
“We lost.”
Yuan Ye watched the young ashigaru in his hands also breathe his last. The “Bloody Butcher Divine Doctor” added another to his record. He sighed, waved his hand to signal for the body to be taken away, and slowly shook his head. The place he had transmigrated to must have some issues; he hadn’t seen Oda Nobunaga win much since he arrived.
Engaged the raiding party from the Matsudaira family, a crushing defeat;
Had a minor skirmish with Yamaguchi Noritsugu, forced to flee, a small defeat;
Now engaged with the Imagawa family, another crushing defeat.
Overall, apart from defeating the Kiyosu Main Family in an internal conflict, the Oda family hadn’t won any other battles. Their current record was 1 win to 3 losses, giving the impression of being skilled in internal strife but inept in external conflicts.
This was nothing like the “Number One Person in Japanese Warring States History”; it was too pathetic!
He sighed and said nothing more. After all, he couldn’t control the events on the battlefield. He could only take his payment and continue to be the “Medical Magistrate,” treating injuries and saving lives. He worked for a full day and night before he could barely finish.
After he slept for a long, exhausted nap, A Man ran to him again to report two pieces of news:
The first was bad news: Shigehara Castle had been breached, and the head of the Okayama family, Okayama Kohei, died on the spot. The Imagawa family refused to accept the surrender and allegiance of the remaining members of the Okayama family, and the Okayama family was wiped out.
The second was also not good news. After taking Shigehara Castle, the Imagawa family was not satisfied and was moving towards Ogawa Castle, appearing to intend to further expand their gains and lay siege to Ogawa Castle.
Yuan Ye took out a map and looked. He saw that Ogawa Castle was southwest of Shigehara Castle. With its fall, let alone Chita District—after the loss of Shigehara Castle, it was only a matter of time before Chita District broke away from the rule of the Danjō no Chū family. But now, it wasn’t just about Chita District. If Ogawa Castle fell, the Imagawa family could directly bypass from the south and attack Atsuta Port.
If Atsuta Port were lost, it would be like severing half the roots of the Danjō no Chū family. It seemed the fighting would continue, and it might even drag on until the autumn harvest.
His crow’s mouth prophecy came true; this battle did indeed drag on until close to the autumn harvest.
The Imagawa family attacked relentlessly, eager to capture the formidable Oda Danjō no Chū family to the west and even swallow the entire Owari province. Oda Nobunaga was also pushed to his limits. After suffering a defeat, he lacked sufficient troops and had to request aid from his father-in-law, Saito Dosan, borrowing over a thousand elite troops led by Ando Morishige.
At the same time, he bowed his head again to his mother, Lady Tsuchida, and his younger brother, Oda Nobuyuki, borrowing over a thousand men under Shibata Katsuie from Suemori Castle. These three forces combined and engaged the Imagawa family in several fierce battles, barely achieving a draw.
Or rather, a minor defeat. Although Ogawa Castle was not lost, Yamaguchi Noritsugu took advantage of this time to launch a surprise attack and capture Odaka Castle.
Ultimately, as the autumn harvest approached, Oda Nobunaga managed to preserve his core territory. Atsuta Port was safe, but they lost two major castles at the root of the Chita Peninsula, completely losing control of Chita District. Without exception, all the local lords in Chita District defected to the Imagawa family.
At this point, he could do nothing but build five rock fortresses near Narumi Castle and Odaka Castle and station heavy troops there, adopting an absolute defensive stance against the Imagawa family and Yamaguchi Noritsugu, completely losing strategic initiative.
As a result, the Oda Danjō no Chū family’s sphere of influence decreased by 25%, Oda Nobunaga’s personal reputation dropped by 500, and coupled with his previous notorious reputation as the “Owari’s Big Fool,” it might have completely turned negative.
Fortunately, the war had temporarily ended. After more than two months, nearly seventy days, Yuan Ye, dragging his exhausted body, grimy and disheveled, hadn’t even settled his medical fees with Oda Nobunaga. He rushed back to Takeuchi Manor first. Oda Nobunaga had lost so badly and was surely in a terrible mood. He’d settle the medical fees later; there was no need to provoke him during this time.
Upon returning to Takeuchi Manor, he did nothing but rest for five or six days. However, he still felt he hadn’t recovered, his chest feeling heavy as if a large stone were pressing on it, making it uncomfortable to breathe.
According to A Man, this was a normal reaction to seeing too many dead people and would pass with time.
Yuan Ye thought this was probably true. Although he had shot and killed a few samurai from the Matsudaira family before, it was from a great distance, lacking a sense of reality, almost like playing a game. It was nowhere near the number of dead people he had seen and touched firsthand over the past two months. It was normal to feel psychologically nauseated—human instinct naturally recoiled from the corpses of their own kind, a genetic trait he couldn’t help.
Since it was genetically determined, he obediently stayed at home to recuperate his mind and body, continuing to tinker with his dyeing techniques. After a week of such peaceful days, just as he felt he had recovered and his heart was no longer so heavy, A Man, somersaulting, burst into his study and rolled to his feet, excitedly exclaiming, “You probably won’t believe it, but something big has happened again!”
Yuan Ye was exasperated. He had just finished processing two months of bloody, mangled corpses and had only just digested that feeling of nausea. Was he going to have to fight again? Couldn’t these people have a few days of peace? At least wait until after the autumn harvest to continue!
He yanked A Man up from the ground and said speechlessly, “What is it now?”
“Uh, you probably won’t believe it, but Hirate Masahide committed seppuku!”
“Who?”
“Hirate Masahide!” A Man hadn’t expected that while habitually wandering around the Nagoya Castle town today, looking for some fun, she would hear such earth-shattering gossip. She quickly galloped back to share it with him, her Dou Dou eyebrows practically standing on end, extremely excited. “Oda Nobunaga’s senior retainer and teacher, Hirate Nakatsukasa-no-jō Masahide, committed seppuku in his own residence today! The entire Nagoya Castle town is buzzing about it, everyone is talking about this!”
Yuan Ye was somewhat incredulous. “Him? Why would he commit suicide?”
“We don’t know for sure yet, but it’s definitely because of Oda Nobunaga!” A Man hadn’t gathered any more information. After all, Hirate Masahide had just cut open his belly, and the news had only just spread; very few people knew the specifics. “Perhaps he felt Oda Nobunaga was a hopeless case, constantly ruining the foundation left by the old man, the ‘Tiger of Owari,’ Oda Nobuhide, and always refused to listen to his unpalatable advice. Finally, he was completely disappointed, felt he was an unqualified teacher, and committed suicide out of shame?”
She paused after speaking, then felt this guess wasn’t quite right. After all, it’s better to live a miserable life than to die well. She certainly wouldn’t slit her throat out of shame. She thought for a moment and said, “Or perhaps because the Danjō no Chū family suffered such a terrible defeat before, losing such a large territory, someone needed to take responsibility, so he took responsibility for Oda Nobunaga, committing seppuku in advance to atone, so that other retainers wouldn’t pursue Oda Nobunaga?”
Yuan Ye opened his mouth. He found that A Man had already guessed everything. He couldn’t think of any new reasons either. Moreover, he vaguely remembered that historically, Hirate Masahide did commit seppuku, but he hadn’t expected it to be so soon. Oda Nobunaga had been head of the family for less than a year, and he had already done it.
It wasn’t strange that Hirate Masahide committed seppuku; he truly hadn’t expected it to be so early.
For a moment, he felt he was witnessing history. But Hirate Masahide’s death had little to do with him. After hearing the gossip, he didn’t take it too much to heart, only sighing again that it was truly an eventful autumn, and people were dying endlessly.
A Man, however, was very excited. Being naturally fond of excitement, after sharing the day’s biggest news with Yuan Ye, she chattered on for a while, lamenting that the biggest supporter in Oda Nobunaga’s retinue was gone, and Oda Nobunaga would likely be in trouble. Then, scratching her head, she couldn’t sit still any longer and got up to run back to Nagoya Castle, intending to continue mingling and hear how others were discussing the matter.
Yuan Ye paid her no mind. He just thought about the four great supporting elders that “Tiger of Owari” Oda Nobuhide had left for Oda Nobunaga; only Hayashi Hidesada remained. He wondered what would happen next to the Oda Danjō no Chū family…
